Attendance numbers show how Disney’s parks dominate the industry. According to analysts at the Themed Entertainment Association, Disney theme parks welcomed more than 150 million visitors worldwide last year — more than three times as many people who visited Universal’s parks. Six Flags and Knott’s Berry Farm owner Cedar Fair ranked even further behind, attracting a little over half as many visitors across all their properties as Universal did.

Disney would need to hook up a telescope to its rear-view mirror to see its competition. So how could any other theme park company close that gap?

Ten years ago, Universal drew less than a fourth of what Disney did, so even though it remains far behind on visits, the theme park home of Harry Potter is catching up. Universal has fewer parks than Disney, so on a per-park basis, its numbers are becoming comparable.

But catching Disney isn’t as simple as opening more parks. A new park has to attract new visitors, otherwise it just cannibalizes its siblings. I doubt that Universal could double its attendance in Hollywood simply by opening another gate. It took Disneyland years to build Disney California Adventure to near the original park’s popularity.

Universal is building demand for its theme parks the same way that Disney has — with more and more rides, shows and character greets based on popular movie and television franchises. Harry Potter probably did the most to help Universal pass the SeaWorld parks to claim second-place among American theme park companies. But developing or buying the rights to big entertainment franchises is ridiculously expensive. That’s the reason why the country’s top two theme park chains – Disney and Universal – are part of mega-corporations that also own movie studios and television networks.

Six Flags, Cedar Fair and even SeaWorld offer alternatives to Disney’s model. But roller coasters and animal shows just haven’t proven to bring in crowds like Disney-style attractions do. Six Flags owns the rights to use DC Comics and Looney Tunes characters in its parks, but slapping the Superman and Batman names on roller coasters hasn’t helped it mount a serious challenge to Disney. Visitors want more.

If a company wanted to challenge Disney, perhaps it could break into the business the same way that Walt Disney did — by creating amazing new versions of stories in the public domain. Walt didn’t come up with Snow White or Cinderella, after all.

A successful new park probably should look to tales that Disney or Universal haven’t claimed, to avoid confusion. But going with public domain works would free licensing money to spend building great new attractions in beautiful parks — none of which would be the roller coasters, carnival rides and animal shows that have failed to help Six Flags or SeaWorld top Disney. Don’t get me wrong. Those can be fun, and all have huge numbers of fans. But to become a global leader in a competitive industry, you need to offer something amazing and unique.

Disney did not invent the amusement park, or animated films, or dark rides. Disney got to be “Disney” — a global entertainment leader — by putting those elements together in ways that no one had before, creating something amazing and unique out of the familiar.

If any theme park company ever beats Disney, it will get there by doing the same.